1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to wireless communications devices and more particularly, to systems and methods for controlling the operation of a camera flash for such devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today's marketplace, consumers have numerous wireless communications devices, such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants, from which to choose. Many of these devices, particularly cellular telephones, have cameras integrated within them. Such cameras will capture images, and the user can then save the pictures or transfer them to another location. To help capture the images, some cellular telephones contain a flash. A number of cellular telephones that have flashes may contain a large capacitor for holding a charge that is high enough to operate the flash. Other cellular telephones, in an effort to eliminate costly and bulky capacitors, contain a number of light emitting diodes (LED) to generate a flash.
Unfortunately, a flash may draw a relatively large amount of current, such as for charging the capacitor or for providing current to operate the LEDs. As cellular telephones transmit voice and data, there is a possibility that the process of providing current to operate the flash may coincide with the transmission of voice or data. If such an event occurs, there is a chance that too much current will be drawn from the battery that powers the cellular telephone. In that case, a safety circuit in the battery may terminate the operation of the battery or the battery voltage may dip low enough to trigger a dead battery shutdown, which may result in consumer dissatisfaction with the cellular telephone.